Fate is Clear
by Deep Aqua Michi
Summary: Queen Beryl must be defeated. The Senshi have arrived at DPoint. Rei watches as her friends fall around her, and knows what she must do. Based off episode 45 of the anime, written from Rei's point of view.


Fate is Clear

By Deep Aqua Michi

* * *

She dragged her up the cold white slope, away from the danger, not daring to look back, for fear she might break down as much as Usagi beside her, desperately screaming her name. 

"Minako!" Usagi yelled.

Rei kept pulling her further, willing herself not to fall down in grief too. Strong. She had to be strong. For Usagi. For the world. For herself.

She stopped atop the slope, as Usagi behind her continued to sob uncontrollably.

Rei stared ahead. The forlorn, empty white lands gazed back at her. Her fate was clear. She knew what would happen. What was inescapable.

And for a moment, but only for a moment, because she knew she would never think of them again, she remembered.

* * *

A deafening crashing sound behind them. The four of them whirled around, watching in horror as thick green ropes wrapped themselves around Mako. The ice below their feet cracked and broke open, as five gruesome looking monsters exploded from below. Particles of broken ice floated in the air. Rei reacted instantly, as did Usagi.

"Moon Tiara – "

"Fire – "

They watched in horror as the creatures flew higher, closer, so that accuracy was impossible.

"We can't! Jupiter will get caught in our attack!" she yelled.

"Don't worry about me! Hurry to where Queen Beryl is!" Mako yelled back desperately.

But they all knew her words meant nothing. They would never leave her alone.

Bright electricity flashed. Mako's yells of pain. The horrible hopelessness sinking in through each of their hearts.

The lightning rod extending. The tremendous eruption of lightning, crashing down from the heavens above, answering to their mistress's call.

And Rei knew what would happen.

A giant ball of electricity, crackling and buzzing with energy, engulfing the monsters and Mako in a sphere of bright light. The lightning kept coming, feeding the massive ball of energy, bending to the will of the soldier of the storms. Three of the creatures escaped, hissing insults, as the ice and snow exploded into plumes of white and smoke. Rei felt her scalp instantly grow cold as bits of snow floated onto her hair.

The dust cleared. Rei looked up. A tower of beautiful, glistening ice shimmered in front of them, sharp points like needles jutting out into the heavens. At the top lay the limp figure of Mako. Her loose brown ponytail hung wilted, like a dying rose, how she had loved those flowers so much.

Rei watched Usagi scream and attempt to climb the icy tower. Watched her cry, watched her plead. She herself wasn't even certain that her voice could come to, only able to watch in complete horror and disbelief, as Mako's eyelids slowly shut for the last time.

Push on. They had to keep moving. There wasn't time to mourn. She pushed the grief away, tried to turn her heart to stone, so she wouldn't feel. They had to keep going. They couldn't afford to stop and breakdown.

Usagi had crumpled to the floor as Rei and Ami turned to forge on.

"Come on, let's go," Minako said.

Sobs.

"_No!_"

"Sailor Moon!"

"If this is what we have to go through, we should just give them the Silver Crystal!"

Rei stopped dead in her tracks and spun around.

"What are you saying?!" she snapped.

_Stupid, stupid Usagi! _

"That's what we should have from the start!"

She leapt to her feet and began to run aimlessly, shouting into the empty space.

"Listen Queen Beryl! You can have the Silver Crystal!"

Rei stumbled forwards to hold Usagi back, unable to hold back a frustrated insult.

"Idiot!" she cried, she and Ami restraining as Usagi continued to frantically shout stupid, ridiculous things.

She couldn't lose it now. This was only the first attack. How could they save the Earth like this? Had she really thought that it would be easy? Had she really thought they would waltz through? As optimistic as they had been, deep inside their hearts, in the back of their minds, they had known the ever-ominous 'what-if'. What crazy things was Usagi _saying_?

Suddenly, Ami raised her hand, and swung it at Usagi's face. Rei let go in shock. Ami?

"I'm sorry, but please understand. Don't waste Jupiter's death."

Silence followed. Lonely, desolate silence, only broken by the tiny beeping sound of Ami's small supercomputer. She glanced at it, her eyes widening as she turned her head.

"They're coming!"

Rei stiffened and readied her stance to attack.

But Ami raised her arms, to hold them back. Rei stepped back in surprise.

"You three go on ahead, I'll hold them here."

What? No. They were a team. They worked together. They couldn't leave Ami to fend for herself.

"But – " Rei said, stepping forward.

"Past this point we'll need your powers, since you have stronger attacks! So, go!" she insisted.

Rei stepped backwards again. She hated that those words made sense, that they were logical. She hated knowing that Ami's words was true, wanted to deny them, didn't want to leave another someone with those creatures again.

"Ami-chan, you're not going to…" Usagi began, unable to finish the sentence, to say out loud what they had all optimistically denied. To say it seemed to confirm the possibility, the possibility they had agreed not to speak of.

Ami gave a sweet smile, although Rei could see that the pain was still written in her eyes.

"I won't die," she said, Rei heard the forced hopefulness and confidence in her voice for the sake of Usagi.

"That's a promise!" Usagi said firmly.

Ami smiled again, that sweet, kind smile, as if so sure.

"Yes!"

Slowly, they turned to go. Rei not looking behind, only ahead, to the destination that Usagi must reach. She forced herself to believe. Ami would be fine. She would hold them off, and come join them later. And they would go together. They would find a way to bring Mako back. And everything would be okay. Everything would be okay. She willed herself to believe it, to have the strength to continue.

And then the warm feeling of hope left, and cold sunk to the bottom of her heart. As if a candle had suddenly been snuffed. The three of them stopped in their tracks and turned around.

They had felt it too.

Rei watched Usagi's knees quiver and then she fell to the ground again.

"Ami's… Ami's… Ami's dead!"

The tears flooded from her eyes, again, heaving loud sobs echoing.

Oh, if Rei could give anything to follow Usagi's example.

But she hardened her heart, would not allow the grief to overcome her. Let her heart become cold, like the ice around her.

"Don't cry like a baby every time! Remember, more enemies will be coming at us!"

_Please Usagi. We must keep going._

"But… but I never expected something like this…" she slowly whimpered.

Had she really? Rei didn't believe it. She had expected something like this. But she had not expected the horrible brutality of something like this.

The ice beneath her swiftly began to glow red. Before she had fully comprehended the situation, Minako had sprung forward, pushing Usagi to safety.

The green ropes shot out from the ice, wrapping themselves tightly around Minako's stomach.

"_Stop it! _You can have the Silver Crystal! Just let her go!" Usagi yelled desperately.

Minako turned her blue eyes fiercely upon Usagi, fire flaring behind them.

"If you do that, I'll never forgive you!" she screamed.

The ropes dragged her down into the large crevice beneath. Rei stepped forward to the edge. But what could she do? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

A blast of orange light and heat and the horrible, terrible scream that seemed to rip Rei's heart out. The hole cracked, expanding larger. Rei grabbed Usagi and dove to safety. There was nothing to do for Minako. But the princess, she needed to be safe. She would be the one to save them all.

Another explosion of snow erupted from the fissure like a geyser and froze into another terribly beautiful, glittering ice tower. Minako lay there, her body limp, the unmistakable way death looked. Yet she still looked beautiful, the ice sparkling around her like a thousand diamonds, her blonde hair swaying in the wind.

And Rei dragged Usagi up the cold, slippery slope, to safety.

* * *

Finally, she let her heart melt. She remembered. Let the grief finally fill her, for a moment, only for a moment. So she could remember them, her friends, the ones she had loved.

"Sailor Moon," she said softly. She must tell her. She must know.

"What?" Usagi asked between sobs.

"We always fought… but it was fun," she whispered.

It had been. How she wanted to be at home again, in the Hikawa shrine, scolding Usagi. Clumsy Usagi, she would say. And Usagi would get angry and snap at her back. And they would exchange insults to the dismay of their friends.

Would it ever happen again?

"Why are you saying this?!"

"I have to say it. In case something happens."

Her heart was breaking inside, yet she fought to be calm. To be confident, strong, not for herself, but for Usagi. For the same reason Minako had pushed her out of the way. For the same reason Ami had emptily promised. For the same reason Mako had insisted they move ahead. For her. To survive. To save everyone.

"We said we weren't going to talk about what-ifs!"

Still she let the optimism overtake her. Rei nearly smiled at her undying hope.

But the two remaining monsters had appeared.

She knew what to do.

Rei walked slowly ahead. She was ready.

"Oh wait! I understand! I'll do the rest myself!" Usagi yelled.

Rei felt the warm arms wrap around her shoulders, pulling her back.

"I'll beat them all and beat Queen Beryl, and I'll come home, so Rei, go home ahead of me! I don't want you to die!"

She refused to look at her. Because if she did, she might have accepted, at the sight of those pleading eyes. Only ahead. Only ahead. Always ahead. They both knew that her words were foolishly unreal, a desperate grasp for a last shred of hope, of a wishful fantasy.

"You still have the big battle ahead of you," she said, keeping her voice as confident as she could. "so you have to conserve your energy."

Her eyes softened as she turned to look at her tearful friend, and gently touched her hand.

With the last bit of happiness and buoyancy she could muster, she grinned.

Grinned for Usagi. As if trying to instill all the cheerfulness and joy she had left into her, to give her the will to continue, to keep going. She grinned, although every fiber of her body vehemently opposed it.

"Come on! Who says I have to die?" she shouted, forcing her voice to sound as bright and cheerful as she could. "Okay, Rei's gonna go take care of them real quick!" she said, wrenching her fingers in a v for victory.

But she knew it wasn't true. She knew she was lying.

Her future was sure as the setting sun. Inescapable, there was no hiding. She knew her duty. Knew what she must do. Knew what would happen, and yet, she was not afraid. She was the soldier of fire. She would do it for her princess, for her to continue. For love and justice on their planet.

But most of all, for the people she had loved.

Her fate was clear.

And she ran forward, ready to meet it.


End file.
